Today's Tao
The sage's Tao acts and doesn't compete. (Ch.81)
Who is the sage?
Of course, you are the one.
Then, who are you?
"Eh, excuse me, sir, which are you talking about, 'true You' or 'your own self'? Self doesn't exist, right?"
That's right.
Self, life, world. They are names given to some groups of information.
They are not independent entities.
"I see. Eh, excuse me, sir. What is 'true I'?"
True You are Tao.
Tao is always "acting without competing", that is to say, projecting a hologram without directly interfering with it.
Tao, Love, Buddha, and Zen among others are names given to the fundamental energy.
"Eh, sir, it is also called nothingness 無 [mu], right?"
Exactly.
Please picture the circulation of an energy with neither time nor space.
What else can you call it but nothingness.
Time and space are parameters used to reconstruct information in "the mind".
In other words, they are names.
"If you can talk about Tao, that Tao is not Tao itself."
This very first line of Tao Te Ching is not saying that it is impossible to understand Taoism logically. No!
It is possible to comprehend Taoism logically.
It is saying that the comprehension itself is part of your hologram.
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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 81
Lao Tzu answers your question!
☞«Recommended Books 18» The most important function of a Japanese is making love. It doesn't matter if he is the poorest dropout living in the forests or the most revered priest of Shintoism living in the castle. He or she has got to make love. This could be a hidden heritage from our Polynesian ancestors or a genetic mission imprinted in the deepest recess of our chromosomes. Whatever it is the reason, the Japanese love to make love not only for the reproduction of the people but for pleasure. In spite of all the moral prohibitions by Confucianism and by jealous parents, Japanese girls have been successfully finding a way to enjoy making love. We used to have an institution called Geisha girls. Though it changes names and appearances, the institution never die out. A nice gift of a Gucci bag is an excuse good enough to make love with an aged stranger. Why? Because making love is sacred. Carnal desire is a manifestation of divinity. We, all the human beings, are divine. That's why we make love for pleasure. The gadgets for pleasure are offerings to the deity of joy. Please read «Kojiki
», one of the oldest written records in Japanese, and «Love Songs from the Man'yoshu
: Selections from a Japanese Classic», one of the oldest anthologies of Waka poems, which is a precursor of Haiku. You will see why love and desire are officially important.
» was written in the seventeenth century. Please compare this classic with Tatsuo Kimura's «
», which was written by a Japanese Mathematician working at Tsukuba University in 2008. Aikido and the quest of "the power / Ki" will never cease to impress us. Aikido 合気道 literally means "Tao of synchronized energy".
» and «
» are tragically funny. Both are considered masterpieces in Japan. Smile guaranteed.
» is unarguably the best novel written by Yasunari Kawabata. Probably, the most popular Japanese novel in the last one hundred years. "Be like Komako" is the novelist's answer to Lao Tzu's "Be like water". When you face a difficult situation and don't know what to do, check «Snow Country» and make decisions as if you were Komako the Geisha. Water is a little too abstract. Komako is a woman and artist of life. If you are interested in Kawabata's literature but do not have enough time to read all his works, «
» are strongly recommended. They are shorter than most ordinary short stories. There are plenty of them in the book. Therefore, it is ideal to read the book in the bed before you fall asleep.
» is an ideal guidebook of Jodo Pure Land Buddhism to those who prefer teachings based on historical references. The word «Ta 他» of «Tariki 他力 / Other-power» is the same «Ta 他» of «Tako 他己 / Other-self» above. Hiroyuki Itsuki asks himself why Buddha (=Other-power) made him, as a child, go through the atrocities during World War 2. The second guide is Shusaku Endo. His «
» stands at the crossroads between Christianity and Oriental religions. This Japanese Catholic novelist kept on asking one question: "why God doesn't help me when I need his help?". The author doesn't mention either the word Zen nor Tao, but his concept of Deep River that goes through everything is fit nicely into Taoism and Buddhism.
», which is the first book of the tetralogy «The Sea of Fertility». Then, at the very end of «
», which is the fourth of the tetralogy and the last of all the works of Yukio Mishima, he had an old Buddhist nun answer the question with another question: "Does life really exist?" If life doesn't exist, what is reincarnation? The answer is simple: the constant emission of a hologram is reincarnation. "Don't worry, my old friend Jim. There is no end", the Zen master would say to the rock poet.
». To understand the Tao/Hologram mechanism - Shin 心, Swiss economist Rene Egli's «
» can be a good preparatory read although the author does not use the word Shin 心. The mechanism of energy and resistance is clearly explained in terms of economy. At the beginning of each chapter, he quotes a corresponding passage from Hermann Hesse's «
».
: A translation of the Tao te ching, with an introduction and commentaries (Harper colophon books ; CN 356)» was published in 1977. Ironically, the new copies of its Japanese translation are still available at the moment of writing. 老子の思想 (講談社学術文庫)/張 鐘元 (著) 上野 浩道 (翻訳) Roshi no Shiso (Kodansha Gakujutsu Bunko) / Chuang Chung-yuan (author), Hiromichi Ueno (translator), published in 1987.
and an introduction by Rev. Dwayne Eutsey. / "The spirit of the valley never dies. This is called the mysterious female." On the right, «Tao Te Ching [Penguin Classics]» translated with an introduction by 
.
» and «A Study of the Good» are the same book. Kitaro Nishida 西田幾多郎 first wrote this book in order to teach his high school students. The Japanese title is «Zen no Kenkyu 善の研究». 
鈴木大拙, the author of many important books on Zen in English, was Nishida's close friend. They met each other at a high school in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. High school education is no longer available exclusively for the elite these days while its level is not so academically "high" as the name declares.
. / "The spirit of emptiness is immortal. It is called the Great Mother" On the right, «Tao Te Ching: Book of the Way» translated by 
.
. With an introduction by Robert Wilkinson. / "The Tao is called the Great Mother empty yet inexhaustible," On the right, «Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)» translated by 
.
. The last part of the translation above is quite unique. The translator relates this part of Tao Te Ching's text with Lu Chi陸機's poem «Tseng Feng Wen-p'i ch'ien Ch'ih-ch'iu ling», which is included in «
文選». (☞See Notes in «
's «Tao Te Ching».
. / "Blunting sharp edges, Untangling knots, Softening the glare, Settling dust, (It evolves us all and makes the whole world one)." On the right, «The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu» translated by 
.